Our adventure-some travel companions, Rorke & Leatha (R&L), had been constructing a road trip in Alaska. The plan was for R&L to fly to Anchorage and Wayne and I would drive the trusted Camry along the Alaskan Highway and meet them in Anchorage. However, Mileage Plus (my employer) frowned upon my taking 3 weeks off to expand my travel knowledge and being confined to 2 weeks of vacation a year did not sit well with me. I chose to give my two-weeks notice and not look back. I told my sweet supervisor that I "really wanted to go back to school and finish my degree" which I did, but I'll always wonder if she questioned why I needed to quit in July to start school in September. I might add that I was not the only one who quit their job for this trip...R&L had also both quit their jobs before this trip!
This was going to be our cheapest trip ever. We figured our total expenditures would not exceed $800. (World Gallivanter 101: The cost of one's journey does not correlate with the quality of memories made .)
Wayne and I made the long drive to Alaska. One day we drove over 1100 miles. The scenery was nice throughout Canada. We made a quick stop at Watson Lake, where there is the Sign Post Forest - a park littered with sign bearing posts. People add roadsigns, license plates, and other signs that they have been in Watson Lake.
After picking up R&L in anchorage, we made our way north to Denali National Park. We never saw Mt. McKinley, it was always covered in clouds. We took a bus into the park and saw lots of caribou, moose, ptarmigan, and mountain goats. The highlight was seeing a large grizzly bear up close.
It was then off to the North - Fairbanks, the Arctic Circle, and Prudhoe Bay. Wayne and R&L actually donned swimwear and swam in the arctic ocean. The water was a brisk 39 degrees Fahrenheit. We did check out some warmer water in Chena Hot Springs, east of Fairbanks. We then drove south. We went to McCarthy, where Wayne and Rorke did a short overnight backpacking trip to a glacier. We then went to Valdez and did some exploring. We looked for wild berries and saw some salmon spawning.
Next on the trip was the Kenai Peninsula, south of Anchorage.We decided to take a dinner cruise from Seward. The trip was very enjoyable, a nice dinner, and some wildlife spotting: Stellar Sea Lions, Jellyfish (everywhere!), otters, puffins, and Mountain Goats. We got t0 see some of Wayne's relatives on this trip: Tyler, Lisa, Breanna, Owen and Lindsey Vaughan. We stayed with Tyler and Lisa and were had lunch with Lindsey in Anchorage (I believe it was at the Moose Tooth)
Wayne and I dropped R&L off in Seward to catch their cruise ship to Vancouver. The scenery in Alaska had been wonderful. Glaciers and waterfalls could be seen from every vista. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing this wonderful trip with R&L and took hundreds of great pictures.
On our drive back to the lower 48, Wayne and I drove through Banff & Jasper National Park. This was again a beautiful drive, but we were glad to get home and I started school the day after we returned.
Reflections
Likes: Freedom of having our own car, being able to take 3 weeks for the trip. Also, having great travel partners!
Ease of travel on 1-10 scale (1=easy, 10=hard): 2
Would we go back? y/n Yes - driving to Alaska was great, but next time we will fly!
Would be a good trip for: Those who love nature, animals, and the great outdoors.
More Pictures Webshots
No comments:
Post a Comment